Wanting Out
by Kegel
Summary: Greg acts in his worry for Sara, causing her to miss something that lets his concern grow even larger, while Sara questions his motives. SaraGreg
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: It's all not mine.**

**Summary: Greg acts in his worry for Sara, causing her to miss something that lets his concern grow even larger, while Sara questions his motives. SaraGreg**

**A/N: Thanks to Emmithar for the beta! **

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**Wanting Out**

**_Chapter 1_**

Sara turned the key in the lock, opening the door of the apartment. She walked into it slowly, almost shakily, letting the tiredness finally come over her, now that she was at home. It was already getting dark outside, a sign for how long her day had actually been as her normal shift should have ended in the morning. Sara rubbed her eyes, dropping her bag and keys, and made her way into the living room. It had not been normal anymore since she and Warrick had started working on that case that had multiplied itself soon, when the investigation of one homicide had led them to several others. It had caused them working doubles more often than Sara was able to count anymore. Grissom did not have the means to provide them with real assistance as the rest of their shift was busy enough as well, so that only Nick or Greg helped them out in the lab from time to time, before they were called out again on their own scenes.

Sara crashed onto the couch, unwilling and too tired to really think of doing something else. She was hungry, but could not be bothered to cook anything or order at least some take-out. She closed her eyes, cuddling somewhat into the couch.

She had been dozing for what seemed only a moment to her, when somebody brushed some strands of hair out of her face, letting their hand linger there for a moment, before crouching down and kissing her briefly on her forehead. Sara murmured something approvingly, and finally opened her eyes, only to meet Greg's broadly smiling expression.

"Why don't you go to bed? It's more comfortable," he suggested quietly. Sara yawned, sitting up a bit.

"Didn't want to wake you," she replied sleepily.

"I've had my share of sleep," Greg assured her. "And I'd never mind being woken up by you, you know."

Sara yawned again, smiling this time.

"Okay, okay, I'm going to bed," she agreed, standing up and making her way into the bedroom, followed by Greg.

"Are you going to work tonight?" he wanted to know then, watching Sara undressing and changing into pajamas.

"Sure," she answered simply, climbing into the bed.

"Why don't you take the night off? You're much too tired. You can't go to work like that," Greg reasoned, knowing too well that this discussion would be fruitless, but nevertheless trying it.

"Have to…," Sara murmured, already drifting off to sleep. Greg shook his head and left the bedroom, quietly closing the door behind him.

He had not been home very early himself, but had at least had the opportunity to catch some more hours of sleep than Sara would be able to, if she really followed her intention and went in to work tonight.

She had hardly slept the past week. The case she and Warrick were working on had not allowed them slowing down for a minute. When the first body had turned up in that neighborhood it had not appeared to be an unusual occurrence. That was until the second and third had followed – direct neighbors of the first victim, all three shot in front of their houses. When the death toll had risen to six, again all people living in that area, and finally even the mailman, delivering the post in the morning, had been killed in that neighborhood, understandable voices of concern had grown even louder that whoever was doing this had to be stopped.

Sara and Warrick had been called out on a new scene almost every day, if you could call in even new scene at all, as the locality was known to them now too well. Greg had helped out in that case enough to have some insight in it, apart from what Sara had told him additionally. Even though they had not really had a lot of opportunity or time to talk lately, as Sara was more working than doing anything else including sleeping.

Naturally she had appeared exhausted lately, and Greg was growing more and more worried. As far as he could guess she had not even eaten something today; she had not even when she had arrived home, having crashed directly onto the couch instead. Greg had heard her coming, having lain in bed, waiting for her to finally arrive home. When he had realized that she would not come to their bed, he had gotten up a little disappointedly and had made his way over to her.

Now that she was sleeping in their common bedroom, he decided on preparing some food so that she would at least eat something when she would wake up. A plan forming in his mind, he settled on making only some sandwiches. He made one for himself with eggs and ham, packing the meat then carefully back into plastic and placing it into the lowest part of the fridge, as far away as possible from Sara's stuff, as she did not want that her food had a smell of meat on it. Greg made three sandwiches for Sara, putting them onto a plate on the small table in the kitchen. He attached a note to it, before he walked quietly into the bed room again. Sara was sleeping and Greg checked that she had indeed not set up an alarm clock as he had thought. Greg smiled, and left the room silently.

* * *

When Sara woke up, everything was dark. The curtains on the window were obviously drawn down, something they usually did to be able to sleep during the day. Sara did not hear Greg breathing calmly next to her, which she was used to hear, and reached over to where he was usually sleeping, only to confirm that he was indeed not there. She sighed, feeling just like lying in his arms for a short while now, before she would have to get up and go in to work again.

She was admittedly tired, but it did not help anything. She could not leave Warrick hanging who had to be just as tired as her, having worked almost the same long hours as she had.

Sara had no idea how late it was. She remembered suddenly that she had not set up an alarm clock to wake her and was already sitting up nervously, when she thought that Greg would wake her in time. So she laid back into the cushions, taking possession of the whole bed, seeing that Greg was not there.

When Sara woke up again, the worry was starting to grow in her, as she was sure that it had to be close to midnight now. Why did Greg not come to wake her up? She jumped out of the bed, realizing instantly that this had been a bad idea when dizziness came over her. She stood still for a moment, waiting for her head to stop swimming.

She was surprised that she did not find Greg in their apartment, but only a note attached to a plate with sandwiches in the kitchen. She found it sweet that he had cared that she would eat something, but wondered what he had written.

_Sara,_

_You know I'm not a great cook, so here are only some sandwiches, but still bon appetite._

_I know you'll hate me for this, but I didn't wake you and will tell Grissom that you're sick. Get some rest, you really need it. You can continue catching the bad guys tomorrow,_

_Love, Greg_

While Sara had smiled at the beginning of the note, she was now crumbling the piece of paper angrily, checking the clock in the kitchen for the first time now. It was already past 2 AM. She had overslept and Greg had wanted her to do so. Leaving the food Greg had prepared behind, she got dressed hastily. She was already on her way out of the apartment, went she went back into the kitchen quickly, taking one of the sandwiches. Greg would be paying for what he had done, but that was no reason for her to let the food go bad, especially because she was indeed hungry. She ate on her way to her car, figuring that she would be at least three hours late for work.

**TBC**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey, thanks for all the response to the first chapter. It took me a little while to get the next chapter up but it's a long one instead of a short quick update. **

**Quick thanks to Emmithar for betareading, before I go to book a flight to Timbuktu for myself to go into hiding there. :P**

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_**Chapter 2**_

Greg was quite satisfied with himself. Sara had stayed at home and would get some rest and Greg only had to convince Grissom that she was indeed sick which would not be too difficult. He knocked at the open door of Grissom's office and his boss looked up. Greg remembered quickly not to look too jovial about his success.

"What is it, Greg? There's still time until the pre-shift meeting," Grissom stated.

Greg rubbed his forehead briefly. "Ehm, Sara won't come in tonight. She's sick," he told Grissom who frowned.

"Really sick," Greg clarified. "You can imagine, Sara must be really feeling bad, if she doesn't come to work," he managed to sound worried. In a way he even was. Sara was working too much and resting too less, she was on the best way to burning out again. Greg was happy that he was at least there now to hold her back somewhat.

Grissom nodded. "Did she go to see the doctor?" he asked.

Greg shook his head. "I think she'll be fine again tomorrow."

"Okay," Grissom said. Greg stayed for another moment, but when Grissom did not say anything more, he retreated quickly.

Greg was just approaching the reception of the lab, when he saw and heard a tumult starting there. The receptionist Judy was holding the phone receiver away from herself and appeared to be very agitated. She was talking uncommonly loudly to Warrick and Nick who had obviously just happened to pass by. Greg stopped closer to them and was now able to make out what they were saying.

"It's not against you, Judy-," Nick tried to calm her down, but the receptionist interrupted him again.

"I don't work here to let me threaten!" She slammed down the phone receiver now, effectively cutting off the call she had received. Greg winced on the loud bang.

"Judy-," it was Warrick's turn now. The agitated woman threw several pieces of paper on the reception desk in front of Greg's co-workers though.

"At first all these letters and now I'm even getting threatened on the phone!" she exclaimed, before rushing away down the hallway into the general direction of the restrooms. Warrick and Nick were looking after her, sharing a glance then, when Greg approached them.

"What happened?" he wanted to know, although he had already gotten a general idea. The other two men turned to him.

"They're threatening the lab," Warrick told him sighing.

"Who?"

"If we knew that…," Nick shrugged. Greg frowned, glancing at the letters Judy had thrown onto the reception desk.

"What is it about?" he wanted to know.

"It's the case Sara and I are working on," Warrick explained. "We're supposed to stop investigating, or we'll regret it, that was their words I think." He shook his head. "Poor Judy just got a call from them."

Nick had put on gloves in the meantime and picked up the letters now. "Came all in tonight," he said, putting them into an evidence bag carefully.

"Where's Sara by the way?" Warrick asked Greg.

"She's sick and won't come in tonight," Greg answered simply, causing Nick who was already walking down the hallway to let out a short laugh.

"Sara won't come in?" he chuckled, disappearing around the corner then. Greg turned back to Warrick.

"What are you going to do?" he asked and the other man shrugged.

"I'll tell Grissom, of course. He probably won't do anything though. It's not the first time that this happens. We can't do anything against all the lunatics walking around out there," Warrick explained calmly.

Greg did not like it. He wasn't a CSI long enough for that he had experienced a situation like that. Warrick seemed to take it very calm. Of course, there was often danger when they were out on a scene; Greg could easily think back to Nick's abduction, or when Sara had been attacked at that mental hospital, or even when Greg himself had been scared as hell, when a shooting had started at the scene he had been working on. But he hadn't experienced that the lab had received threats about a certain case. And that this case was so little under control, as Sara and Warrick had been working a new shooting, a new homicide in that area almost every day, did Greg not like at all.

Nick and Greg went to continue working on a case they had together and the time went by quickly. Greg had just checked his watch, noticing that it was almost three, when he saw through the glass walls in the distance Sara walking up to them.

The last thing Nick saw of Greg was him slipping out of the room quickly, muttering a quick goodbye, hastening away. Nick turned his head into the direction Greg's nervous glance had gone into, and he saw Sara coming up towards him. She was wearing a deep frown and Nick could only guess that this was the reason Greg had fled. Sara did not look sick, maybe a little tired, but not sick, and Nick wondered what Greg had been talking about.

"Hey, Sara. I didn't think I'd see you tonight."

"Hey," she replied briefly, looking around in the room.

"Greg's just left," Nick told her. "Said something about booking a flight to Timbuktu."

If that was even possible, Sara's look darkened. "He had better." To Nick's surprise she did not make any effort to go after Greg, but let herself fall into the nearest chair, laying her head onto her arms on the table.

"I'm tired," she explained weakly.

Nick could hardly suppress a chuckle. "Must be the second time in how many years that you admit that?"

Sara lifted herself up somewhat and grabbed the nearest file that was lying on the table.

"Leave me alone," she grumbled, causing Nick only to break into a grin. Sara glanced at him briefly but turned her gaze to the file in front of her again without any comment.

They continued working, but Greg did not appear again. Sara guessed that he had either been called out on a scene or was hiding from her somewhere in the lab. She sighed, causing Nick to ask if she was sure that she was alright. Sara assured him so, but thought that Greg had been right suggesting her to stay home after all, as she was feeling the tiredness heavily now. She could only hope that she and Warrick would not be called out on a new scene in their case today, after they had been so in the last three days, so that she would be able to leave early or at least in time.

Sara's hopes seemed to get fulfilled, for no such call came, and it was short before the end of their shift when she was just standing in the DNA lab to get results that she caught sight of Greg walking along the hallway. Quickly taking the sheet of paper Wendy was just handing her, Sara hurried out of the lab and called after Greg.

He turned around to her apprehensively. "Hey," he smiled insecurely. Sara almost laughed at his apparent worry and insecurity.

"Are you finished for today?" she wanted to know, smiling at him encouragingly.

"I was just on my way out," he said, meeting her pace when she started walking down the hallway.

"I only need to get rid of this," Sara stated, waving the paper she had received from Wendy, "and then I'll head out, too." She let her hand wander down Greg's back, letting it rest on his hip then, nevertheless briefly glancing around to see if anybody was near to watch them. "I'd love to grab breakfast together, but I'm too tired," she admitted quietly.

"Bad luck," Greg replied, before Sara in the awareness of nobody being around kissed him briefly on his lips.

"Let's just head home," she suggested, having offered him peace before they had even started a quarrel, having realized that Greg had only meant it well, noticing better than herself that she was way too tired.

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Sara drew down the curtains on their bedroom window, and looked smiling at Greg who was just changing into his pajamas.

"At least we're getting a good day's sleep," she said, sitting down on the bed. "I hope we don't get another call during the day," she added, rubbing her eyes. "I know you're calling me a workaholic, but I can't go on like that without any sleep," she continued, now noticing that Greg was unusually quiet. It wasn't usually she who did the talking when they were together. Greg was looking at her, but she had the suspicion that he was not really paying attention.

"Greg, did you listen to me?" she asked, frowning.

"Yeah, of course," he quickly replied, closing the wardrobe next to him. Sara did not really believe him, but refrained from digging any deeper, figuring that he was simply tired.

Greg could not forget what he had witnessed the last night. He could not forget the threats and was worried about the possibility of Sara being called out on that case again. The danger was always there, but now it seemed even more real, more graspable. Years ago, when he had still worked in the lab, he had known that there were perils in working outside but only after he had been working as a CSI himself, he had started to realize how immediate they actually were, that they came unexpected. The one time the shooting had started when he had been working a scene had shown him that police being around did not completely avoid those dangers either and that it would not help if a bullet was suddenly flying your way.

Greg had been drifted off in thoughts when Sara had been talking and was now caught off guard by her.

As far as Greg could tell, Sara did not even know about the threats. She had not been around earlier when Judy had run off into the restroom upset, and Greg doubted that Nick had told her about it later on. Greg wondered if he should tell her about it, but settled finally on waiting with it until the next day, not wanting to disturb or worry her now. She needed a good day's rest, so much he knew, she did not need to ponder about his worries.

He lay down on the bed next to her.

"I'm sorry, I didn't listen earlier," he admitted now and Sara's frown deepened at first, before she smiled.

"It's okay, we're all a little preoccupied sometimes," she said, closing her eyes, while leaning closer to Greg.

"Just don't wanna lose my reputation as a good listener," Greg whispered.

"You won't," was the last thing Sara mumbled before falling asleep. It took Greg a little longer to nod off, being still deep in thought, but finally he drifted off as well.

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Greg and Sara were just coming from a break together when Sara's cell-phone went off. She answered it quickly, Greg watching her.

"I'll be right there," she said finally, shutting off the call and looking at Greg. "There was another shooting. Sofia said it looked just like all the others."

Greg nodded unhappily, and Sara gave his hand a short squeeze.

"See you in the morning," she said. "Or tonight, if things go on like that," she added, screwing her eyes.

"Take care," Greg told her, before she marched off.

Greg tried to remember what he had planned to do next. Checking his watch he noticed that it was too early to bother Wendy for the results he needed. Instead he made his way to the trace lab where Hodges could only tell him that the sand they had found in the victim's shoes was sand like it could be found everywhere in the Nevada desert.

Greg was just leaving the trace lab when his own cell-phone started ringing and he saw that it was Warrick trying to reach him. Warrick should be out on the scene with Sara as far as Greg knew.

"Hey," he answered the call, wondering what his colleague possibly wanted.

"Hey, Greg. I got a call some time ago that there's another scene for Sara and me," Warrick told him and Greg replied that he knew so much.

"I'm still knee-deep in Lake Mead, we have a floater here," his co-worker continued and Greg thought he could almost smell it through the phone.

"Can you go and help Sara out?" Warrick asked him now, coming to the point of the call, and Greg agreed quickly.

"Thanks."

"No problem," Greg assured him, being glad that he would be able to keep an eye on Sara, even though he had to admit that his presence or absence did not change anything about the danger. But still he had a better feeling this way.

After he had finished the call, Greg was quickly out of the lab and on his way to the address Warrick had told him, although Greg knew already very well where he had to go, after he had assisted Warrick and Sara several times in the lab with their case.

When Greg arrived at the scene there were still many onlookers bustling around the secured-off area. Getting out of his car, he could see Sofia talking with another police-officer. Greg caught sight of Sara who was apparently ignoring the mass of people that noised around her. She was busy taking photos and did not notice that Greg was walking up towards the taped-off place.

Greg needed strangely long to get through all the people to the scene. The mass seemed to waver around him, the noise mixing to one pestering sound in his ears. And it was that he first saw what happened before he heard it through all the noise. Sara, who had just stood up from taking a closer picture of the body, winced suddenly.

Greg did not even hear his own yell, when another shot dashed through the darkness and a third, and a fourth and a fifth one. Oddly enough Sara had still been standing through four bullets hitting her, shaking though, until the fifth shot hit her and she finally fell to the ground.

From where Greg was still standing in the middle of the mass of people around the scene, he could not see what was going on around him, but one thing he could see clearly: that Sara was not moving anymore, that she was dead, as even his unbelieving senses had to realize.

**TBC **


	3. Chapter 3

_**Well, I'm glad people are still enjoying this story… **_

**_Thanks to Emmithar for betareading. _**

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_**Chapter 3**_

Greg stared at Sara who was lying on the ground – obviously dead. The mass of people around Greg had vanished. He stared down at the unbelievable and it was then that he felt as if every one of the bullets that had hit Sara was hitting him as well – only that he did not feel the pain he should be feeling. It was a different kind of pain he felt, it was not anything graspable for him. His gaze still at Sara, he fell, flinched and felt as if he was hitting the ground, a surprisingly soft ground, but sat up suddenly, looking disoriented through the almost complete darkness. It was only a small stream of sunlight that was blazing its train through a gap between the curtains Sara had drawn down earlier.

Greg muttered some curse words, sinking back into the cushions then. He turned his head to glance over at Sara who had surprisingly not woken up despite Greg's abrupt movement and cursing. He drew his blanket over his head, sighing. He had had nightmares before but that had been an especially bad one. He wondered how long it would take to get those pictures out of his head.

Greg glanced at Sara again, and moved then carefully over to her. She was sleeping deeply, much to Greg's content, as it would give her finally the rest she needed. Hoping to not wake her, but in need of her touch, Greg moved even closer and laid his arms around her. Nestling his head next to hers, he closed his eyes again, hoping to get the images of the nightmare out of his head.

Greg managed to fall asleep again, but his worries once again penetrated his dreams. He woke up again more exhausted than when he had fallen asleep and rolled to his other side restlessly. Realizing after a few minutes that sleep would not come again, and that this was probably better, as he did not seem to find peaceful sleep today, he got up quietly, watching Sara who was still sleeping undisturbed as opposed to him.

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When Sara woke up hours later, she found the bed next to her empty. She was surprised by that, having thought that Greg was almost as tired as her and needed therefore the same rest. He usually slept longer than her, she being used to sleeping very little. Today she had obviously been the sleepyhead.

She got up and made her way out of the bedroom, finding the apartment to her disappointment empty. As she and Greg had not gone to grab breakfast together in the morning, she had figured they would spend some time together now, but he had obviously left. Sara swallowed the disappointment, reminding herself that he had maybe been called in to work. Hoping that he had not repeated his trick of the previous day and had not told her about her being called in as well, she searched the kitchen in order to see if she would find a note from Greg there. This was not the case and realizing now that it had not been a good idea not to have breakfast after she had only eaten one of Greg's sandwiches the previous night, she opened the fridge and saw that there was not much in it anymore.

Sara was quickly in her shoes and jacket, deciding that she could at least do something useful, if Greg was not available, and go to shop for groceries. They were letting another opportunity to spend time together passing by, but if Greg wanted it this way, he could have it. Sara realized that she was grumbling; she had tried to avoid tension and quarreling in the morning, but last night Greg had not woken her up in time for work, today he had left while she had still been sleeping, and Sara slowly got the feeling that Greg was avoiding her.

She took her time before she returned home. When she entered their flat, carrying the first batch of grocery bags, she spotted Greg sitting on their couch, flipping through TV channels. He looked up to her when she was walking into the kitchen.

"Hey," he said quickly. Sara put the bags she had been carrying onto the kitchen table and turned to walk out of the flat again.

"Be right back," she said when she was already in the hall again. The next thing Greg heard was the door falling into the lock. Some minutes later Sara returned, carrying another batch of bags.

"Hey, you could've said something to let me help you," Greg pointed out, when she brought them into the kitchen.

"I managed," he heard Sara replying, already busy storing the groceries. Greg jumped up now, going to help her. She had already put almost everything into their place; her efficiency was scaring Greg sometimes. Sara did not say anything while they were finishing off the rest, and Greg figured in relation with her earlier shortness that she was mad with him, and he did not like this way of her being mad. If she was angry with him, he usually preferred the yelling alternative over the brooding one. If she yelled at him, he could at least answer something, but if she chose the silent tactic he would just go crazy. So Greg hoped now that she would drop this manner soon, next to his wondering what it was actually about.

"Let's go and grab something for dinner somewhere," he suggested lightly, when Sara was closing the fridge.

"I bought all this food and now you want to eat out?" she asked in return, lifting her eyebrows.

"Well, we can cook something, if you want to," Greg offered.

"You don't even know how to cook water."

"I do," Greg protested. Sara was clearly suppressing a smile now, and Greg wondered about what exactly she was smiling, just like he sometimes wondered if she was laughing with or at him. "You only have to put it to a heat source until it reaches the boiling point at 212 degrees, at normal pressure that is. See, I know that," he told her, trying to keep up a serious tone.

"Actually you should be a great cook with your chemistry degree," Sara pointed out now. "You just have to put the ingredients together at the right temperature and everything should work out."

Greg laughed nervously. "Can I drive?" he asked finally, putting a clear end to their discussion, with the obvious solution to get something to eat somewhere else.

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After they had eaten at a place where they went to quite often, Sara and Greg were just on their way back to Sara's car, when a cell-phone started ringing. It was definitely not Greg's, since he was not using one of the simple default tones they were hearing now, so it was Sara who took her phone out of her bag, answering the call. She listened for a few seconds, before she said something again.

"Yeah, I'll be right there," she ensured the person she was talking to and shut off the call. She turned to Greg. "I got to go. Warrick and I have a new scene," she told him. Greg stared at her, the threats, the worry, and the nightmare coming back into his mind after they had been gone for a few hours. He banished these thoughts quickly though, as Sara was already frowning at him.

"I'll drop you off at home," she decided.

Twenty minutes later Greg got out of the car and Sara drove off quickly. He watched her driving down the street briefly, before he turned to their apartment complex and entered the building. He did not spend a lot of time in their flat, but only got the things he would need for work and the keys for his own car, before he left to head to the lab. There was not a lot of time to go until their shift would start, so it would not hurt if he went in a bit early, since Sara had gone in to work already as well. Greg reasoned with himself this way, although he had to admit that it were actually still some hours until shift; he was probably picking up Sara's habits in going in early, or maybe it was just a natural development that had to come along with him being a CSI for some time now.

And it was not like there was not plenty to do for him in the lab. Grissom was there early anyway; Greg had once dared to look under Grissom's desk if there was a pillow or even a mattress hidden beneath so that he could sleep regularly in his office, but had not found any such thing. When Grissom caught sight of Greg, they were quickly out on a scene so that Greg did luckily not have much time to wonder how Sara was doing. It took them many hours to process the scene, so that it was already in the early morning when they returned to the lab. Grissom vanished into his office to that it was let to Greg to take samples they had brought from the scene to the trace lab and to DNA. When he came back from there and walked past the reception desk, he remembered the previous night and stopped.

"Hey, Judy," he greeted her. She looked up from where she had been writing something.

"Hey, Greg." She looked much calmer this night than she had on the previous day.

"I've heard about last night," Greg started. "Everything's been quiet tonight?"

She nodded. "Yes, that lunatic person did not call again."

Greg smiled. "That's good. And no letters either?"

Judy was shaking her head now. "No, no more threats. It's such a relief."

"Yeah," Greg agreed. He just wanted to go, when he thought of another thing.

"Is Sara already back?" he wanted to know.

"I haven't seen her tonight," was the disappointing answer he received.

Greg made his way to the break room, in urgent need of something to eat. He was just about to open the fridge when his cell-phone started ringing. Checking the caller's ID he saw that it was Warrick trying to call him, Warrick who was out on the scene with Sara… Greg was shaking his head slowly… this could not be, it was a mere coincidence. He picked up the call reluctantly.

"Hey, Greg," he heard Warrick's voice. He sounded calm, and a little tired maybe. "We're finished over here. Sara and I want to grab some breakfast. Wanna come along?"

Greg wondered for a second why Sara was not calling him herself, but agreed then quickly.

"Sure."

"Usual place?"

"Okay," was Greg's answer, sounding much more lightened up than earlier.

Things were not that bad after all.

**TBC**


	4. Chapter 4

_Thanks to Emmithar for betareading!_

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**Chapter 4**

When Greg entered the diner, he caught sight of Warrick who was waving him over to the table where he and Sara were sitting. Sara had her back to him and it was Warrick who slide one place to the side so that Greg could sit down next to him opposite of Sara.

"Hey," she said between two bites of her pancake. Before Greg could return anything the waitress came to take his orders, and when she was gone, Greg was silent, watching Sara shoving another piece of her food into her mouth. He did not notice how Warrick was lifting his eyebrows, throwing an asking glance at Sara, feeling obviously that something was off. Sara shook her head slightly. Greg noticed this and turned to Warrick.

"How's your case going?"

"They have somebody in custody, could be our man, could not," Warrick answered him shrugging.

"Evidence?"

Warrick emptied the rest of his cup of coffee. "They didn't get him because of anything we found."

"But?"

Sara was entering the conversation now. "The guy was hanging around suspiciously at the scene last night. When an officer was asking him what he's doing, he started fiddling around with a gun, an unregistered one moreover, as it turned out." She had been telling all this calmly, but Greg could not help swallowing.

"We'll have to connect him with the victims, or better with the ammunition that was used," Sara continued.

Greg nodded.

There was not much of a conversation in the following minutes and realizing that even Greg was unusual silent and assuming that it had to do with some trouble Sara and Greg were having with each other, Warrick left soon in order to give them the opportunity to hash it out between them.

Greg wanted to try exactly that and threw Sara a smile, hoping she would return it and the tension between them would vanish. Sara frowned even deeper though and Greg guessed that she was at least wondering about his behavior in the last couple of days. Greg thought about telling her what had been and what was on his mind. Telling her that he was worried that she was working too much and sleeping too little would be a good start, but it did not seem to be a good idea to tell her that he had seen her being shot dead in his dreams, even more so in all gruesome details.

"Are you ready?" Sara was interrupting his train of thoughts now. Greg looked down at his coffee and food, realizing that most of it had turned cold.

"Yeah," he answered Sara sighing.

"Will you go to the lab again or will you actually come home with me?" Sara wanted to know, and Greg wondered if he was only imagining the sharp tone in her voice, but as her words were matching this tone it was probably really there.

"I'll head home."

The heading home was not an enjoyable business. Sara was very quiet and when she said something it was in a curt manner, and Greg's continued attempts to lift the mood were in vain. When they arrived home, Sara went instantly to bed. Greg followed her, but when he climbed into their bed, Sara had already turned her back to him.

He lay awake for some time, before he moved closer to her. He stroked her hair, following then along her shoulder and arm down to her hips gently. Sara did not react and Greg noticed that she was sleeping. Nestling himself next to her, he went finally off to sleep as well.

When he woke up again, he was lying on his side of the bed again and Sara was gone. Reluctantly he stood up as well and found her in the kitchen. She was completely dressed and held a cup of coffee in her hands.

"Good morning," Greg greeted her, smiling at her, gauging her mood.

"Afternoon," Sara corrected him.

"Afternoon," Greg gave in. He took the coffee-pot that was still half-full and filled a cup for himself. Then he sat down at the small kitchen table where Sara was sipping her coffee.

She looked at him gravely. "I've made a decision."

Greg looked at her questioningly, showing that he was listening. Sara let go of her cup, shoving it away from her, and looked at him intensively.

"I don't think this… between us," she started finally, "is going to work." If Greg had been expecting anything, it was not that.

"So I want to end it…make a clean cut before it gets worse," Sara continued in a monotonous tone, having obviously laid out her words before, and Greg still stared at her stunned. It was coming out of left field for him. During the last days his mind had been occupied by the worry for her; at the same time he had not missed that she had been somewhat irritated with him, but he had thought it would blow over like every smaller quarrel they had fought in the past had gone over.

"Sara…" he started, not knowing how he was supposed to convince her of the opposite. She probably had her reasons why she wanted to break up, even though he did not know them; he was not conscious of having done anything wrong that would cause her to do so.

Sara was silent now, rubbing her eyes. Greg guessed that she had built up the courage to tell him about her decision recently, which had made her so silent and curt. It still did not explain her reasons. Greg was just convincing himself to ask for those, when Sara jumped suddenly up and ran out of the kitchen, back into the bedroom.

Greg stared down into his cup. He was dazed, unbelieving that this was happening, that everything was going to end so suddenly. Hadn't they been happy only some days ago? Or had they only deceived themselves?

Following Sara into their bedroom was no option; she had gone there because she wanted to be alone, so much was clear. So Greg kept sitting in the kitchen, waiting for her to return, letting his coffee turn cold for the second time this day.

Greg knew that he had been uncommonly quiet and apparently inattentive during the last few days, but that was not what would cause Sara to break up with him as a sole thing, he could not imagine that. Still he wondered if he could not have done anything to avoid that it came so far. He did not even know what they would do next. One of them would have to go. Since it had originally been Sara's apartment it would be naturally and fairly Greg who would have to move out.

Greg was interrupted in his thoughts when Sara came out of the bedroom. Greg stood up, looking at her, rubbing his forehead. Sara's face was tears stained, she had cried like Greg had been suspecting. None of them said anything. Sara brought a handkerchief out of her jeans pocket, turning away from Greg to clean herself somewhat up.

Greg had a lump in his throat that was not getting smaller and his voice was raspy, when he asked, "Can you tell me why?" He wanted to know the reason, needed to know what he had done wrong.

Sara turned to him again. "I thought about it a lot in the last couple of days," she started. "But I still don't know why. I guess it's just me. Guys don't tend to stick around for long." She came over to Greg slowly, and caressed his face. "You've always been a caring guy, Greg. I know you don't want to hurt me, but if you want out, I won't hold you back."

Greg had lifted his eyebrows, deeply surprised. He laid his arms around her back affectional. "So you don't want to break up?" he tried to clarify for his own understanding.

Sara shook her head. "I don't, but I've seen how occupied you've been lately. I know you've been thinking about how to tell me -"

Greg laughed, causing Sara to furrow her brows. "I don't want to break up with you," he said, "so if you don't want either, let's just not do it, okay?" He was still chuckling happily.

Sara looked bewildered for a moment, before she could not help smiling as well. "You!" She punched his shoulder lightly. "I thought… " She shook her head. "Greg Sanders! You can gab around all day, but when it gets important…"

"Sorry." He looked sheepishly and Sara's expression turned earnest.

"Be honest, what's on your mind?" she wanted to know. Taking his hand in hers, she added, "Is everything alright?"

Greg nodded after a moment. "Yeah." Looking bashfully he added, "I was worried about you, you working this case, the threats-"

"What threats?" Sara asked sharply. Greg remembered that Sara had not been there when there had been the tumult and that she did not know about it.

"The lab got warnings that we'd regret it if we'd continue working this shooting case Warrick and you are on," he explained.

"It's not the first time that happened," Sara replied calmly. "That's not everything, is it?" her voice was quieter than before.

Greg could not look at her; the images were coming back into his head. Rationally he had to say that his nightmare had been a mixture of gruesome things he had seen at scenes and the threats that had personalized cases like those, that had made him fearing for Sara's safety. This realization did not make it easier to tell her about it.

"It's silly," he started, knowing that it was not. "I had this nightmare… you were shot right in front of my eyes at the scene," he said the last part very quietly. "You were working that case… there were those threats… I couldn't get my mind of it."

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked softly.

Greg chuckled almost sadly. "It's not exactly easy to come and say 'I dreamt that you're shot dead,' you know."

Sara nodded understanding.

"And last night and today you seemed to be angry at me for some reason," Greg continued. "I just wanted to let it blow over." He grinned slightly. "That's usually better for my safety."

Sara grimaced. "True."

After some minutes of kissing and fondling that found them on the couch, Sara stopped Greg gently.

"What are we going to do then?" she asked.

Greg smiled. "What about me taking you out?"

"I'd like that." She smirked. "As long as we're back for work in time."

Meeting her expression, Greg suggested, "We could call Grissom and tell him that we're both too sick to come in."

Sara threw him a warning glance.

"You infected me," he still dared to add. "That's convincing, isn't it?"

Sara rolled her eyes. "Yes, of course."

"So it's a deal then?"

"Grissom would have a fit."

"We can't do that to him."

"I guess not."

**The End**


End file.
